Dr. Cath Traynor (Natural
Justice) and Community
Researcher Mr Gerren De Wet (Indigenous Nama youth) attended the recent 2nd Southern African
Adaptation Colloquium recently in Johannesburg, South Africa (which was hosted by GSRI, Wits
University, ACDI and the Adaptation Network). A key theme of the conference was “knowledge
co-production and learning”, and we presented a reflection co-authored with Dr
Laura Foster (Indiana University, Bloomington) regards conducting formal Participatory
Action Research (PAR) with indigenous communities. We started with provocations,
asking questions such as “who gets to produce scholarly knowledge?” and “who gets
to benefit from such knowledge?” Through applying a critical approach to our
own research processes, our findings suggest that those who get to produce
scholarly knowledge are those that first, meet the criteria of funders, and
second those who adhere to the normative standards of human subject research approaches
and research ethics processes. In an attempt to counter more extractive research
processes, we as researchers have co-developed community-researcher contracts
with communities, these aim to outline expectations regards how knowledge
shared by community participants will be used and also to ensure protection of
their indigenous knowledge. Through examining our own research processes and the
formal research structures we work within, we hope to develop practices of
knowledge production that are more responsive to hierarchies of power and
inequality.

During the colloquium, presenters and the participants shared
ideas and approaches regards how social learning values and methodologies could
contribute towards and improve climate change adaptation, in a variety of
situations from cities, to rural communities, to engage different sectors such
as youth, and how better to ensure co-design in adaptation projects. Funding
sources for adaptation were discussed and government representatives presented
their perspectives of the UNFCCC COP21 Paris Agreement, and how South Africa is
responding with its adaptation strategy, mainstreaming of adaptation, and the development
of monitoring and evaluation for adaptation. Trends in transformative
adaptation were also debated and the colloquium finished with a session on how
South Africa can better prepare professionals and researchers for knowledge
co-production processes in climate change.

Natural Justice met with adaptation practitioners from the
Environmental Monitoring Group and Indigo Development and Change to plan a
Peer-to-Peer Learning Exchange between the Nama youth and the Nieuvoudtville community.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Exploring national responsibility past & present through diagrams and graphs

By Julia Röttinger, Intern with the Climate Change Program

On the 26th and 27th
of August 2016 Dr Cath Traynor and intern Julia Röttinger held a workshop with
the Kuboes Youth Group facilitated by Gerren De Wett who himself is a community
and lives in Kuboes. It was the first time that Natural Justice worked with
that specific youth group and therefore interesting to see how the young
participants between 23 and 31 years would react.

Studies on climate change have indicated
that vulnerable groups, which include Indigenous Peoples are likely to be
negatively impacted, and groups such as the Nama People in Kuboes, Richtersveld
are expected to suffer climate change impacts, with effect principally felt
through water resource availability and food security. The workshop therefore
introduced key issues related to climate change: namely climate science,
climate justice, the role of indigenous knowledge and community rights issues.

On the first day some background
information on Natural Justice’s work was given before moving on to the topic
of climate change and climate justice. The young adults were asked to explain
what they associate with climate change. It was interesting to see how the
group engaged with the topic through participatory activities. After the first session it was clear that the
group had some knowledge on climate change which helped to introduce climate
justice including the issues of responsibility and the moral obligation of more
developed countries to act. Short videos and other activities raised awareness
and caught the group’s interest which made it easier to connect to the last
task. After discussing their own experience as active pastoralists of climate
change impacts in the Richtersveld area, the participants went out to interview
Kuboes’ elders in order to find out more about changes in the climate during
the past 30-50 years.

Mapping international to local responsesto climate change

The second day started with a short
icebreaker activity which was facilitated by one of the youth group members, Regina,
and energized the group. It was obvious that everyone was more comfortable now
and the young adults were open and keen to learn more about the topic. The next
session started off with an introduction to climate change responses on all
levels – from international to municipal –through this the group realised how
much is being done in theory. Further, an activity illustrated that there are
ways to engage on climate change and climate justice issues on all levels as
well as to participate and use human and also indigenous rights in engagements.
In the next part the interview outcomes were discussed and reflected. The
members had a very interactive and participatory conversation and came to the
conclusion that they would like to learn much more about their indigenous
knowledge with regard to climate change from the elders in the Nama community. Furthermore, the group prepared a
“participation contract” for the Peer-to-Peer Learning Exchange with
Small-Scale Rooibos Producers in Nieuwoudtville (Northern Cape) for the
following weekend which the youth group members are definitely looking forward
to.

Energizers from Forum Theater approaches

In summary, the objectives and expectations
of the workshop, such as raising awareness of climate change and climate
justice issues, examining impacts of climate change in the Richtersveld area as
well as highlighting the value of Nama indigenous knowledge and its relevance
to climate change adaptation were achieved.

Friday, August 12, 2016

“The control man has secured over nature has far outrun his control over himself.”

Ernest Jones,The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud, 1953

In East
Africa, Kenya is considered a new frontier for business and development – hence
the term “engine” of the region (David 2015). Since the country adopted its Vision
2030 strategy, emphasis has been placed on trade, industrial expansion and
infrastructure development, with the aim of not only providing a stable
economic environment but also transforming and solidifying the country as a
middle-income economy (Kenya’s Vision 2030). To realize this goal, there has
been consistent budget allocation and foreign investment into the country’s
infrastructure development and growth, which has transitioned Kenya into the
current explosive era of infrastructure expansion (Laurance 2016). The recent
budget allocation, including external financing, gives a total of Kshs 117.6
billion - approximately USD 1.17 billion (Budget statement Fiscal year 2016/
2017). But it is the transport routes, particularly roads, which have been
identified as critical to maintain and expand this new frontier (Kenya’s Vision
2030 MTP2 2013-2017). The A2 Road Project, designed to bitumenize the 505km
stretch of unpaved road from Merrile River, in central Kenya, to the Kenyan-Ethiopia
border town of Moyale, fits well into this narrative.

It is
hoped that by October 2016, the road construction will open the country’s undeveloped
northern region to much yearned economic development (Marsabit CIDP 2013-2017).
A region marginalised socially, economically and politically with the aide of
colonial policies, some of which have continued well after independence. Pastoralism
continues to be the the most productive and prominent livelihood in the region with
livestock (cows, goats, and camels) being kept through a well regulated
traditional system of grazing (CIDP 2013-2017). Since water is scarce, the
community has designated water points, albeit limited, in different areas that
are able to support both residents and their livestock (CIDP 2013-2017). Given the
precarious nature of the environment and the importance of pastoralism, it is
only sensical that any development project should strengthen these livelihood
mechanisms. Therefore, we must be cognizant of the benefits and potential negative impacts that
roads, such as the one in Northern Kenya ,may bring (Laurance 2015).

Fortunately,
Kenyan law is not oblivous to the potential impacts such a development project
can have on people and their environments. Kenya’s Constitution inscribes a
fundamental right to a clean and healthy environment for all people, and for
the benefit of future generations. The Environmental Management and
Coordination Act (EMCA), the framework environmental law of Kenya, empowers
citizens to participate in environmental processes as well as minimising and
mitigating environmental damage. EMCA also stipulates that Environmental Impact
Assessments (EIA), a participatory process of assessing potential environmental
impacts of projects (Clayton &Sadler 2004), must occur prior to the
commencement of projects. If approved, the EIA results in the issuance of an
environmental license, which sets out numerous conditions to mitigate social
and environmental impacts (Section 63 EMCA; excerpts from Kohli & Menon
2009).

Consistent
with national law, an EIA study on the road was conducted and a report filed
with Kenya’s chief environmental regulator, the National Environmental
Management Authority (NEMA) in 2009 (A2 Road EIA 2009). In 2011, an
environmental license to conduct the project under certain conditions was
issued to the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), the project’s
proponent (EIA/ 447). KeNHA then contracted two China-based companies (China Wu
Yi and Jiangxi Zhongmei Engineering Construction Limited) and one based in
Turkey (Gulsan Holding) to carry out the construction.

Five
years on and the road construction almost complete, we are able to assess the
roads constructions compliance with Kenya’s laws, including the environmental
license. Community monitoring to investigate the project site, including
interviews with affected communities, has highlighted numerous instances of
non-compliance of the Environmental Management Plan (EMP), environmental
license and national law.

Culverts
and bridges have been poorly designed or constructed leaving surrounding areas
and homes prone to floods resulting in the loss of human life and livestock. In
other areas, constructed bridges have blocked community dams that were a
collecting point downhill hence limiting accessibility of water for livestock
and domestic use in these areas. Excavated materials have been disposed
alongside the road blocking access routes for animals and residents to water
points and grazing fields.

The excavation
for the road has also resulted in unregulated clearing of vegetation, damaged
existing livestock water pans and exposed borrow pits – the latter two
resulting in human and livestock death and injury as reported by the people
living in the area. Plastic bags used for construction have either not been disposed
of or only partially burnt – a concern for pastoralists who believe livestock
have died as a result of consuming this litter. Community water dams have been
polluted and water tables disrupted leaving the community with insufficient
water supplies, or no water all together, forcing them to walk long distances
to access other water points. There has been direct physical displacement and
dispossession without adequate compensation and a failure to adequately address
dust storms from quarry sites.

All of
these impacts are considered within the EIA study, environmental management
plan, environmental license or national laws and, hence, should have been
adequately dealt with. So, why is it that these impacts have occurred? Some of
the reasons that must be explored relate to: the limited amount of monitoring
that occurs during projects; vaguely drafted environmental license conditions,
which are difficult to implement and monitor like ‘all waste water is disposed as per the standards set out in then Water
Quality Regulation’ (Condition 3.1; Kohli and Menon 2009); and poor and
ineffective response from relevant government agencies. Further, a disempowered
citizenry, who don’t know the law nor mechanism to access systems of justice,
are unable to exert the necessary pressure to hold the relevant government
bodies and project actors accountable.

We have much work to do to improve
the implementation of our laws but it is unwise to apportion blame to one
group, given the real challenges that exist with funding and capacity of
government agencies. As a starting point, we all must inherently accept that
the rule of law, as a fundamental pillar of a democratic society, is completely
fused to our plans for development because the law is not there to deprive us
of a prosperous nation but to protect and enliven that which we, as Kenyan’s,
hold dear.

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Welcome to Natural Justice: Lawyers for Communities and the Environment

Natural Justice is an international NGO facilitating the legal empowerment of Indigenous peoples and local communities. Natural Justice takes its name from the legal principle that people should be involved in decisions that affect them. Accordingly, we assist communities to engage with legal frameworks to secure environmental and social justice. Join us as we explore the rapid changes happening across the world in the field of environmental law.